Five Things You Never Knew About the South African Military

Knowing the military – any military – is a tough task for anyone. The South African National Defence Force, or SANDF, have some particularly interesting characteristics that are mostly lost on those not working in the military. Here are five facts about the SANDF that you may not have known.

44 Parachute Battalion and Special Forces fought thousands of rebels in the CAR and survived

During the March 2013 attack and subsequent coup by Seleka rebels in the CAR, SANDF soldiers were involved in a rather famous battle in the capital city of Bangui. This much is well-known. What is less well-known, however, is that although 15 soldiers died in the battle, enemy casualty estimates range from a low 600 to a high 2000.

Briefly-captured soldiers reported seeing a warehouse full of bodies soon after the battle. By its end, the paratroopers and Special Forces involved in the Battle of Bangui had fought overwhelming numbers and not only survived, but effectively brought Seleka to the point where the only feasible way of continuing on to the presidential palace was through negotiating a truce with SANDF commanders on the ground.

South African artillery is some of the best in the world

Historically, South African G5 and G6 (pictured) artillery systems designed and manufactured in South Africa have been well-respected for their range and accuracy. There is widespread speculation, however, that this is no longer the case. The G6-52 155mm Self-Propelled artillery system proves otherwise.

When equipped with rocket-propelled artillery shells (yes, those exist), the G6-52 can reach out and speak to the enemy at 70km range. To put this in perspective, the D-10 artillery piece commonly used throughout Africa has an average range of about 10km. The G6 is a recent design and undermines the myth that the South African defence industry is no longer producing anything innovative. Whether the G6-52 can be marketed overseas for sale, however, is another question entirely.

One soldier destroyed an entire ship with a can of gunpowder

Job Masego, a member of the Native Military Corps during WW2, managed to blow up a cargo ship in the Tobruk docks. While captured by the Germans following Maj Gen Klopper’s surrender, Masego hid a tin of explosives in the fuel compartment of a cargo ship and was able to blow the vessel up.

He was later awarded the Military Medal. He was recommended for a Victoria Cross, the highest honour for gallantry in combat, but in true backwards colonial fashion, this was denied because Masego was considered “just an African”. That he managed this feat solo, while imprisoned, appears to have been lost on his superior officers.

South Africa’s Navy is fighting pirates!

Yes. Believe it or not, the SA Navy and Special Forces have been deployed to the Mozambican Channel for several years now, in a deliberate operation aimed at capturing or deterring pirate attacks originating from Somali coast. Although they have not yet caught a single pirate (instances of pirate activity are low), there have been several occasions where the Navy has chased or inspected suspicious vessels.

South Africa missed an opportunity to have a ‘Top Gun’ School

In 2012 it was announced that a “Gripen Fighter Weapons School” (GFWS) was being proposed for the country. Given the favourable climate and the impressive display of 2 Squadron’s flight skills at a Gripen exercise in Sweden, the creation of a GFWS in South Africa seemed like a no-brainer. The GFWS would have taught Gripen pilots the intricacies of dogfighting and air-to-air combat tactics – essentially a South Africa-based Top Gun.

But the GFWS was never accepted by the SANDF, despite eagerness for all involved to make it happen. Some manner of internal dispute resulted in zero training possibility for South African personnel to become elite combat fighters. Though we’ll probably never know. The Department of Defence has been unwilling or unable to provide a clear explanation for the rejection of such an obviously-beneficial school. The GFWS will now likely be hosted in Thailand.

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Sciber

This is very interesting. Militaries tend to be very secretive especially the SANDF. We just need to replace those Hercules air lifters with no less than 8 Boeings, & replace the R5’s with something newer (& openly restart the Nuclear weapons program under the AU – so as to be taken seriously at the UNSC).

To4d

There was a proposal to replace the C-130’s with A-400M’s. That would’ve been quite an improvement! R4/5/6 are great weapons, in my opinion they have to, at the very least look at an upgrade package for those in service, to include holo type sights and maybe a rail system to mount extra toys. Lol agreed, SA acts like its a big player but we cannot even deploy a Gripen to a hotzone without months and months of preparation. Battle of Bangui proved this.

8 A400Ms were purchased under Project Continental, then cancelled as a result of bogus claims by Armscor’s then-CEO and panic by Cabinet. Foolish error.
Many of the R4/R5 rifles in service are being upgraded by Denel under a R30 million SANDF contract with Picatinny rails, adjustable stocks, new accessories and CRAR-32 reflex sights. The four variants being created are a DM, grenadier, rifleman and section leader, each with different levels of equipment. Exactly how many of the R4s and R5s in service will be modified is unclear, but there will be a total of 2000 of the DM variant, with 102 delivered for the 2010 World Cup.
I disagree about the Gripen deployment, the four armed aircraft were on their way within days even though they had not been placed on standby. That’s remarkable considering how badly underfunded 2 Squadron is.

To4d

Lol, everything you stated although factualy correct is still pretty negative…like the cancelled A-400Ms, we are in need of a better airlift capability. The A 400M can lift 37 tons, thats a Rooikat right there or one of the new badger vehicles. And what happened to the 3 or 1 Mistral LHD that was also proposed? I’d say that would’ve been a good investment too considering our aforementioned ego in the African theater. Regarding the Gripens…from what I read they were sent subsequent to the attacks, whats more, no time frame was given for when it arrived so it might have been a few weeks after action. Don’t you think they were sent there as a show of force rather then being expected to actually serve a combat role…maybe the government just wanted to show they are doing something or maybe not? The R4s I have seen on defence web and they look brilliant, but if memory serves another assault rifle was proposed? Raptor or godzilla or something, just remember it looked cheap. Everything set aside, I believe the SANDF is a very capable force, lacking discipline and funding! I would love to see the defence budget being bumped up to 2.5-3% of GDP although thats never going to happen.

I did not say it was not negative.
The Mistral-type ships were a proposal under Project Millennium, but it never went beyond the early project definition phases. Like most of the ‘nice-to-have’ projects it was placed on ice waiting the outcome of the Defence Review.
The Gripens and Rooivalks were in place within two weeks at the most, we have the photographs from Ndola and Gemena to prove that. They were sent to be used in a combat role, with a full complement of weapons, to handle two potential scenarios: Seleka staging another attack on the remaining SA forces or South Africa and the regional community going in to remove Seleka from the capital and restore the government.
At one point the Denel CR-21 was developed specifically as an R4 replacement, but the budget didn’t allow for it. When openly asked why they had opted to upgrade the R4 family and not acquire a new assault rifle, the SANDF’s response was that assault rifle technology is moving relatively slowly, that the accessories are probably more important if you already have a decent platform and so there’s no pressing need to upgrade to a whole new rifle with all its attendant costs just yet.
Funding remains the crucial issue. I, too, don’t believe we’ll see the necessary increases.

To4d

Because of answers like these you may consider me a new loyal follower of ‘Africandefence.net’. Thanks Darren, was very informative indeed!

Did a bit of speed reading and it seems the JAS 39 can now be ready within 2 days following the 2013 long term contract with SAAB. And you guys have an article covering the problematic airlift situation, just hope it gets resolved soon. Would still like to know whether the LHD’s were even considered as I heard this from a friend in OZ

The Gripen can be ready in as little as 30 seconds, depending on what level of standby the aircraft and crew are on. The 2 days figure is for those aircraft in rotational preventative maintenance and not on the flight line. But that’s not the same as a proper deployment.
Typically, even in well-funded militaries, it takes weeks to prepare aircraft and crew for an operational deployment. That 2 Squadron could send aircraft and crew that quickly was remarkable.